Triad
by RogueWitch
Summary: Bucky adopted Darcy nearly the second they met. Everyone thinks it's the other way around, but as soon as the two met, Bucky knew she would be his best friend in this century. When he and Steve are called away on a mission, he enlists the resident Archer to watch over his girl. Little does he know, that's where her story really begins.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:**

Yes, I should be working on Equilibrium, and getting that update out, since today is my day to update it, but this story has been stewing at the back of my mind for weeks, and I've been putting it off. The insentient poking of this plot bunny finally got to be too much, so here it is. I promise this one will be short, and I'll get the next installment of Equilibrium out by the end of the week.

Please enjoy!

Triad

Chapter 1: Bucky's Sister

The small brunet curled quietly against his chest, her chestnut curls cascading across his shirt and covering his metal hand where it was intertwined with Steve's long fingers.

"Hey Buck," Steve whispered, looking down at the two curled up on the couch against him as credits rolled across the TV screen. "She asleep?"

Bucky blinked sleepily and pushed Darcy's curled off her face. Her long dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks, but she didn't stir. "Out like a light," he smiled, accepting a quick kiss from his boyfriend as the Captain wriggled out from under him and Darcy. "I don't know what it is about this movie, but our girl cannot keep her eyes open all the way to the end."

Steve huffed, a contented smile on his lips. He stretched, arching his back to work out some kinked muscles from sitting in one position for far too long. "She made it past the mall this time," he toed off his shoes and pushed them under the coffee table with his sock clad feet. "I call that progress."

"You gonna help us up, or am I sleeping on the couch with our cuddle monster?" Bucky raised an eyebrow as his boyfriend pretended to mull it over. "You ain't planning on getting laid tonight, are you?"

"Not with Darcy sleeping in the guest room," he scratched the back of his neck and gently pulled the sleeping girl into his arms.

"She'd be disappointed to hear that," Bucky pulled himself off the couch and trotted ahead to open the door and turn down the bedding. "She thinks it's hilarious when I can make you forget she's here, says it's great to know I have such an enthusiastic lover for a soulmate, even if she has to hear it once in a while." He grinned at the crazy red flush that traveled up the back of Steve's neck. "Says I deserve it."

"Yeah," Steve settled Darcy down on the bed, gently pulling off her shoes and tucking her in. "It's still rude." Bucky placed a kiss against the girl's forehead, flipped off the light and closed the door.

Darcy stood in her bathroom, the vanity lights flooding the room with bright white light, making the words on her skin stand out in stark relief. Not everyone had a soul mark, her parents hadn't, and while Jane and Thor were obviously matched, they didn't carry each other's words. Darcy had two. She dropped her towel to the floor and turned to one side, tracing the loopy cursive words that had been there her entire life. She smiled softly as she traced the final letter and turned back front to look at her other set of words that curved gently under her left breast. The handwriting on the second set was messy and spikey. Darcy dropped her hand away from the words and just stood in the harsh white light; her mother had worried over her two soul marks, scared what it might mean for her daughter. Most sets of double words meant that the person would lose their first soulmate, but Darcy was almost positive that wasn't the case for her, not with the words she had.

Darcy took one last look at the marks and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water cascade over her skin, making her thick brown hair hang heavily down her back, and letting the tension drain from her shoulders. She'd been at the tower for nearly six months, spending most of that time either in the lab with Jane or with Bucky and Steve in their apartment. If you'd told her a year before that she was going to move to New York and get adopted by the Winter Soldier as a defacto little sister, she'd have asked you if you'd gone off your meds, yet here she was, getting ready for a demanding day of lying on the couch with Bucky, watching Disney's Rescue Rangers on DVD and following that with a night of clubbing with her two favorite supers. Darcy couldn't think of a better way to spend her birthday, unless Jane could be there, too.

Darcy was rubbing a towel over her hair when her phone rang and her heart dropped. There were only two people who could be calling. Jane was in Asgard, doing some royal thing with her princely love, and her mother'd called and left her ubiquitous and very of key, rendition of Happy Birthday on her answering machine at a completely obscene hour of the morning. So, it could only be Steve or Bucky, and since she was meeting them for breakfast, nothing good could come of the call.

"You're bailing on me," Darcy tried not to sound too sad as she connected the call.

"We're sorry, baby girl," Bucky apologized through the phone. "Team got called out 'bout five minutes ago."

"Understood," she tucked her towel around herself and dropped down onto her bed. "Just be safe, and come home soon; we'll watch Rescue Rangers next weekend."

"Done deal," Bucky said. "If you still wanna go out, though, Agent Barton's on medical, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to step in and take my best girl dancing."

"Thank, Buck," Darcy smiled into the phone, she'd never actually met the illusive Hawkeye, or his partner, both were always off running some super special secret missions for SHIELD. "I doubt he'd want to bum around with a lowly science intern."

"He'll be in the common room at ten," Steve's voice called, clearly listening in on Bucky's phone call, not that Darcy minded. "You be sure to get your cute butt ready, I hear he makes a mean pot of coffee."

"Just let him know he doesn't have to," she mumbled, picking at loose thread on her towel.

"Stop moping around in your towel, doll," Bucky chuckled at her indigent huff, the man knew her far too well. She could hear him buckling up his tactical gear. "Put on some lipstick, I assure you, everything will be okay."

"Thanks big brother," Darcy smiled and pulled herself off the bed. "Tell Steve to take good care of you, cause you both have some serious cuddle time to make up for."

"We look forward to it," there was a click on the other end of the phone that Darcy knew was Steve's shield connecting to its magnets. "Love you, mladshaya sestra."

"Love you, too," she dropped her towel on the bathroom floor and stuck her head in her closet. "Give Steve a kiss for me."  
"Will do," Bucky hung up the phone before they could both go on.

Darcy dropped her phone on the bed and sighed. She refused to cry, life was full of disappointments, and not getting to spend your birthday with your friends was pretty minimal on the scale of things.

Bucky'd adopted Darcy almost the second they met. Everyone thought it was the other way around, given Darcy's ability to draw people to her, but the second she high fived his metal hand without a second thought, he knew he wanted to keep her, and he'd not been shy about letting her know.

They watched stupid kids shows together on Sunday mornings, complete with Darcy's favorite sugary cereals, and he happily let her drag him out to clubs so she wouldn't have to worry about getting any unwanted attention. Darcy told him repeatedly, with a huge grin on her face, how his murder face was extremely affective at keeping guys away. She loved the fact that she could dance with her supers and didn't have to worry about wondering hands. Okay, their hands wondered on each other, but their girl was safe.

Steve worried that Darcy would be uncomfortable with them when she found out he and Bucky were soulmates. They'd had to keep it secret growing up, and even with changing attitudes towards same sex soulmates, America wasn't ready for their beloved Captain to be gay. Darcy spotted Bucky's soul mark on afternoon while he was helping her with some basic hand to hand. He'd lifted his shirt to wipe sweat off his face, reveling the words on the right side of his abdomen. "I could do this all day, jerk," she'd read, tucking her hands under her armpits so she wouldn't reach out to touch them. It wasn't polite to touch another's soul mark unless they were your words. "It's Steve, isn't it?" Bucky just nodded shyly and dropped his shirt back down to hide the marks. "That's awesome," a wide grin broke out over her face and she threw her arms around his neck, never mind how sweaty and gross they both were. "I'm so glad you two found each other again." Bucky loved Darcy a little bit more that day.

When they were called out the morning of her birthday, his heart broke a little.

"I can't believe I'm not allowed to go out with you guys," Hawkeye grumbled, throwing himself down on the couch, a plaster across the bridge of his nose. "First Avenger call since Nat and I got back, and I'm stuck on medical."

Steve raised his eyebrows at his soulmate across the room, having a quick silent conversation. "I got a mission for you, Barton," the Captain called, rummaging through his locker, looking for his always illusive left hand glove. Bucky'd probably swiped it again.

The archer huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm on a medical, Cap," like he hadn't said that five times since he'd walked through the door. He looked up at the Super Soldier who was making eyes at Barnes, who was on the phone. "I can't do crap."

"You can take BBucky's little sister out," Steve shrugged. "It's her birthday; poor jerk is breaking it to her right now."

"Bucky's sister?" Clint sat up and eyed the Winter Soldier, who had his phone tucked into his shoulder as he buckled his suit. "You mean the intern?"

"Darcy, yeah," the Captain sat down on the other end of the couch to pull on his boots. "Nothing crazy planned, just some cartoons and this evening we were going to take her to dinner, then to this club she likes in Mid-Town."

"You go clubbing?" the archer laughed. "Yeah, sure, I'd like to meet the girl that can get Captain America to go to a club. Do you dance?"

"I'm not as much of a fuddy duddy as you all think," Steve muttered. "She'll be up at ten, she likes Count Chocula with her cartoons and ludicrous amounts of coffee," he frowned down at the laces of his boots. "Tons of coffee."

"I think I can handle coffee and cartoons with one intern," Clint put his hands behind his head.

"Hold that thought," the Captain chuckled and walked off to talk with Bucky, his shield in his hands.

The elevator doors opened to a nearly empty common room, Darcy's eyes dragged over the man who was sprawled out on the couch, his arms running along the back, completely bare in his black wife beater, boots heavy on the coffee table. She'd seen pictures of the archer, but nothing compared with the live man in front of her. She tracked his movements as he brought his coffee cup to his lips, the wiry muscles bunching and curling under the taunt skin of his arms. She took a breath and stepped off the elevator before the doors closed, and she had to deal with the embarrassment of waiting for them to open again. It was rude to stand there and salivate over someone without at least introducing yourself. Her mother had raised her better than that.

Darcy opened her mouth to give a friendly greeting, but that was not what came out. "This is super inappropriate, but I totally want to crawl into your lap and lick those arms." Darcy slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes as wide as those Anime chicks as she saw shock bloom on the archer's face. Of all the stupid shit that could have possibly come out of her mouth, that had to have taken the cake.

Clint gently set his coffee cup on the table and grinned, holding one hand out to her, keeping himself sprawled out on the couch. "Lick away, Darling."

All the air in her lungs rushed out, and her heart jumped into her throat as her hand went up to the words under her breast. It almost felt like they flared to life for a moment. Darcy walked across the common room and took Clint's hand, letting him pull her onto the couch, tucked up against him. "So, I'm Darcy," she said, looking down at her hands, as if she wasn't practically sitting in her brand new soulmate's lap.

Clint laughed, throwing his head back and running his hands down her arms, taking her hands in his. "That's a relief," he said. "I don't have to call Jarvis about an intruder in the Tower." He looked over at her and smiled. "Can I see your mark?"

"Not until you buy me dinner first," she told him, resisting bringing her hand up to the mark by linking her fingers through his. "Can I see yours?"

"Good thing the Supers made reservations at Dominique's, then," the archer pulled her against him. "I'm not losing any clothes until you do, darling."

"Umm," Darcy pulled back from him a bit, disentangling their fingers and putting distance between them on the couch. "Aren't you with Black Widow?" She'd heard the rumors. "I don't want to ruin that, I'm not that girl."

"Darcy," Clint lifted her chin to look her in the eye. "Natasha and I have been waiting a long time to meet you. You're not stepping in anything." She nodded, and let him pull her back into his embrace. He kissed her gently. "Is that offer to lick me still on the table?" he winked.

"We'll see," Darcy's eyes twinkled as she snuggled into his arms, Rescue Rangers cued up on the television. Best birthday ever.

 **Notes:**

Someone asked a while a go for me to translate any Russian I use. There isn't much, usually, but I will try to go back and put in some translations when I can. For now:

mladshaya sestra - little sister

Please remember to tip your author in the box below.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:**

So, my plan is to get this entire fic finished and done with by the end of this week, but we all know about best laid plans. Luckily, I only have one more chapter. We'll see how it goes.

Enjoy.

Triad

Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

"So, soul mate," Darcy played with the calloused fingers of Clint's left hand. "Tell me about yourself." Rescue Rangers had been playing in the background as they'd quietly drank two pots of coffee, and taken a short pizza break for lunch. There was a little very innocent kissing that may or may not have happened, also, but they were back in the common room, with the TV on, and had a whole new season to watch

"Not much to tell, Darling," he said, rubbing his chin into the crown of her head, like a cat leaving his scent. She liked that he called her 'darling.' "Born in Iowa, grew up all over, Army, Shield, Avengers. Oh, I've got a dog."

"Haven't seen one around the Tower," She stretched up to look around the common room, like she might have missed a dog hanging around.

"Lucky lives at my apartment in Brooklyn," Clint chuckled, settling them both back down on the couch, it was nice having someone to just cuddle on the couch with. Natasha was wonderful in many ways, but she wasn't a cuddlier, physical intimacy was for sex, and in some cases sleeping, but just enjoying each other's closeness was not something the Widow did. "He stays with my friend Kate when I'm on mission, or here at the Tower."

"Okay," Darcy shuffled around to get comfortable again. "So you have a dog and a place in Brooklyn, but that tells me like nothing."

"My middle names Francis," he told her very seriously.

"You're deflecting," she poked his thigh.

"I am," Clint sighed. "You know, I heard this theory once, I don't know how true, but they hypothesized that your soul mate was supposed to fulfill a need that you didn't know you had, you know like plug a hole in your life you didn't know you had until it's filled."

"Sounds interesting," Darcy clicked off the TV and turned on the couch to look at her archer. Her archer, that was definitely not the way she'd thought her day was going to go. She'd figured after a few hours of awkwardly watching cartoons they'd both give up and go their separate ways. Instead, it was nearly four in the afternoon and she was comfortably cuddled against her brand new soul mate, trying unsuccessfully to pull personal information out of him. "You'd be in a better position to know if that was true, and don't think I didn't catch your continuing deflection."

"Alright," Clint blew out a breath and gathered himself visibly. "I was born with Nat's words," he told Darcy, his hands twisting in his lap, his concentration clearly on them. "It's unusual for a man to be born with words; I know it's sexist and stupid, but true." He sighed again; he knew he'd eventually have to tell his story, every bloody and horrible bit of it, Nat too. He just didn't want to do it just yet, but he would, cause she'd asked. "My father didn't like that I had words when I was born, and he wasn't shy about voicing that opinion, it didn't help that the words themselves didn't make me sound like a particularly nice man." The archer fidgeted and leaned back against the back of the couch, pulling his hands down over his face. Darcy wanted to comfort him, but wasn't sure if she should. "I didn't understand how my words could be taken until I was much older and my father was long gone. But when I did figure it out, I was so ashamed of my mark; I did my best to keep it hidden always. I couldn't understand how my soul mate could ever love me if I inspired those words to come out of her mouth. By that time my parents had died and my brother, Barney, and I were in the System, bouncing from one foster home to another. We got kicked out of more than one when they saw my mark."

Darcy finally reached out, covering the archer's hands with her own. "But she does," she watched as he turned his palms up, under her hands and linked their hands. "So it worked out."

"Yeah," he continued to watch their linked fingers, not looking up at her. "Regardless, I was sick about it, and worse, Barney hated that I had words at all, and he didn't. The thought that I would become the kind of person my words suggested, and the fact that they were there at all, drove a wedge between the two of us, one that we never managed to mend." He paused, waiting for Darcy to ask what the words were, he saw the question on her face, but she refrained. It wasn't like he was ashamed of them anymore. He knew them in context and knew Nat loved him, unfortunately that didn't erase the self-loathing he'd grown up with, or the looks he got when people caught a glimpse of the words even now. "The summer I turned fourteen, your words appeared."

"I'm afraid to ask if that was a good thing or a bad thing," she smiled at him, even if he wouldn't look up at her. "I'm kinda embarrassed I even said that, and I don't have to wear it on my skin."

"I love your words," Clint said without hesitation. Darcy just rolled her eyes. "No, seriously. Do you know how awesome those words felt to a fourteen year old boy? Not to mention the meant that I would have at least one soul mate who would want me, if only for the way I looked. Sadly, they're in a nice hidden location, so I didn't get to show them off."

"I can only imagine," Darcy chuckled. "I was born with two sets of marks. I think my mom was a little horrified by yours, but I always liked them, and they were always mine, no one saw your words but me."

"Can I ask about the second set?" he always assumed that since both he and Natasha had matching sets of words, that they would eventually be a threesome, but now he could test that theory.

Darcy knelt up on the couch and pulled down her jeans over her right hip, the words traced her hipbone in a neat arch. "These are easy to show," she shrugged, watching Clint lean in, his hand hovering over them. You are my soul mate."

"But they're not my words," no, they were definitely Natasha's; he would recognize that handwriting anywhere.

Darcy shrugged. "I don't think she'll mind." Clint's fingers traced the words that his lover and best friend was fated to say to this girl he'd only just met, and probably knew more about him than anyone on the team, save Nate. Darcy shivered at the light touch of his fingers dragging across her skin. "Can I," she placed her hand over his, the feeling starting to get too distracting. "Can I see yours?"

"Nat's?" he asked. He shrugged; she'd see them eventually anyway. He stood up and turned, pulling down the neck on his shirt, revealing the mark on his left shoulder.

"You gonna tell me the story?" Darcy sat back on the couch; she would touch the words that had caused him so much pain as a child, until he said it was alright.

"Not much to tell," Clint pulled the beck of his shirt back up and settled down on the couch again. "Ten years ago I wasn't Hawkeye with the Avengers, I was just another numbered agent with Shield, I specialized in high profile assassinations." He let his words sink in. Yeah, he was an assassin. He killed people for a living, and he hadn't always done it for the good guys. When Darcy just burrowed back under his arm, settling against his side, he huffed, and went on. "I was sent out to take out the infamous Black Widow. Honesty, I don't think they really expected me to succeed. I certainly didn't." He watched her pull his arms around herself. "But, then I found myself face to face with this stunning red head. I couldn't just pull the trigger. So, with my gun pointed at her head, I said: The way I see it, you've got two choices, sweetheart."

"And she said: I'm pretty sure you just took away that choice," Darcy nodded. "I can see how that would sound pretty damning out of context."

"It was pretty damning in context," Clint chuckled, hugging his new soul mate against his chest. "But at least I wasn't some rapist or something. Sadly, my first act as we bonded was to point a gun at her and throw her in handcuffs. Then Coulson chewed my sorry ass out for bringing Nat in, instead of shooting her."

"But you've had ten years together with your soul mate," she reasoned.

"Eight," he corrected. Darcy cocked her head at the correction. "I brought her in ten years ago, but they separated us at first, before Coulson took over as her handler."

"Sucks," Darcy frowned. Now that she'd found Clint, she had no intention of being separated. "Well, when Natasha gets back, you'll have both of us. At least, if you want."

"I should be the one asking, Darling," he said seriously, turning her to look at him. "Natasha and I," he sighed and scrunched up his face. "We aren't good people, Darcy. We both have a great deal of blood on our hands, both from before and after we joined Shield. You really want to hitch your horse to our wagon?"

"Clint, you remember that the Winter Soldier calls me little sister, right?" she put her hands on either side of his face. "I'm sure we can work all that stuff out. Right now, it's my birthday; I just met one of my soul mates. I want kisses, then dinner and dancing. Maybe some good old fashioned alcohol, and maybe, if you play your cards right, mister, some awesome overnight cuddling."

"I can do that."

*****  
Clint lay in Darcy's bed, sunlight filtering through the midnight blue curtains, basking in the warmth. Lucky'd woken them up early, insisting that it was the perfect time for a walk, and Darcy had happily bounced out of bed to take her new best friend for a walk. Darcy'd bonded with the old golden like they were lifelong friends. He smiled up at the ceiling. His soul mate had told him about every single glo-in-the-dark star that Jane had placed on the ceiling, the first night they'd stayed in her room, both of them a little more drunk then they'd set out to get. Darcy justified it as birthday/soulmate celebrations, but the bottom line was, they'd both drank too much at the club. The front door of the apartment opened and closed, and Clint rolled out of bed, clad only in a pair of purple boxers, that his darling girl thought were adorable.

"Hey, Darling," Clint called as he rubbed his eyes. "You pick up coffee on your walk, or do I need to make some?" Before he could even make it into the kitchen he was pinned up against the wall by a very angry looking James Bucannon Barnes, whose metal hand was very effectively blocking off the archer's airway.

"What the fuck are you doing in my sister apartment?" Bucky's voice growled menacingly in his ear. "We asked you to take her out for her birthday, not take her out for a test drive."

Clint would have gladly answered, mostly telling the irate Winter Soldier, that he had in fact, not done anything untoward with the man's little sister. Maybe clarify things by letting the man know they were soul mates. Sadly, Clint wasn't going to be saying anything while the Soldier's fist was around his throat.

"Clint?" Darcy came through the apartment door, Lucky's leash and collar jingling happily as they both came into the living room. "Bucky," she shouted as soon as she saw them. "What the fuck are you doing, put him down this instant." By this time, Clint was pretty sure that his face was turning a startling purple, but he knew he had no hope of taking the Winter Soldier.

"Nothing doing, Doll," Bucky growled, looking back at Clint. "Don't much like strange men in your bedroom, specially not the kind that aren't wearing pants."

Darcy's hand came around Bucky's arm, pulling gently at the metal appendage. "Buck, he's one of my soul mates, I'd like to keep him around a while." That did it; Bucky dropped Clint to the floor, letting him suck in air. "And he hasn't done anything that I didn't want, so back off the big brother act, I've heard you and Steve fuck more than once. You ain't no blushing virgin, either." At that Clint really did choke.

"Darcy doll," Bucky had the curtesy to look sheepish. "Gotta look out for my best girl."

"Yeah," she patted his arm again. "I'm someone else's best girl, now. Or one of them. Natasha back, too?"

"Yeah, she's probably still in the common room," Bucky scratched the back of his neck. He'd been suspicious of whether or not Darcy and Natalia were soul mates, but it had been a long time since he and Talia were close, he couldn't be sure. She certainly not had any soul marks when he'd known her.

"Clint, why don't you go see her," Darcy smiled at him, dropping a gentle kiss on his lips, and helping him to his feet. "I'm going to sort my brother, here out, then I'll come up and join you."

"You okay with Lucky staying here, Darling?" Clint asked as he disappeared into the bedroom to find his pants.

"Yeah," she laughed. "He's already eaten my plants, it's not like there's much else he could do."

"He could eat your shoes," Clint said, pulling on his shirt as he walked to the door.

"Not if he can't get into the bedroom," Darcy closed the mentioned door. "Go see your soul mate; I'll be up in a bit."

"Anything you say, darling," he winked and closed the door behind him.

"So you and Hawkeye, then," Bucky said, rubbing the back of his neck, knowing he was in for an earful.

"And Black Widow," Darcy sang. "But we haven't exchanged words yet."

"Got'cha," the soldier plopped himself down on her couch. "I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Yep," she told him, dropping on to the couch next to him, and letting his drape his left arm over her, holding her securely against him.

"He's a good guy."

"That why you were trying to rip his throat out?" Darcy laughed, even if she was still a bit pissed that her mate would have Bucky sized bruises on his neck.

"Only cause I love you so much," Bucky told her very seriously.

"Well, now you've earned a day of carrying around your best girl," her grin stretched across her face. "I demand piggyback retribution."

"I can do that," Bucky was glad to be home.

 **Notes:**

Please feed the plot bunny, so I can churn out chapter three sooner!

Thank you for all the love!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes:**

Three chapters in one week, and a finished fic. I feel accomplished. Thank you everyone for reading and commenting.

Enjoy.

Triad

Chapter 3: Fulfilled

Natasha watched as the elevator doors opened to reveal the Winter Soldier, a young brunette clinging to his back, and a huge smile on his face. The girl had her arms wrapped around his neck, her face pressed up against his as she whispered conspiratorially to him, kicking her legs like she was spurring a horse. As she watched, Bucky reached back and pinched the girl, pulling giggles from her, and a kiss on the cheek.

"Onward," Darcy called, pointing forward across the room towards the kitchen.

"She's a firecracker," Clint whispered against Natasha's skin as they both watched. "That little girl has both the Supers wrapped around her little finger."

"Yeah," Natasha smirked, tipping Clint's chin upward. Looking at the blossoming bruises on his neck. "Looks like the Soldier had you wrapped up in something, too."

"He was not happy to find me in his little sister's apartment," he shrugged. "Our misunderstanding has been corrected."

"Right, like he's just going to let that go, you have a dick my friend, and he's not going to be particularly happy when you start sharing it with his baby sister, soul mate or not," she lifted her eyebrow at him and continued to watch the girl in question.

"He shared his with you," Clint countered, returning her raised brow. "You don't see me getting all uppity about it."

"That was thirty years ago, dear boy," Natasha told him, watching as Darcy pour herself a cup of coffee while still riding the Soldier's back. "The rest of the team speaks very highly of her," she said, changing the subject. She didn't like thinking about her time in the Red Room, even if it was Bucky they were discussing.

"She's pretty great," Clint agreed. By now, Bucky had dropped the giggling Darcy on the kitchen counter, only to have her jump down and tackle the Captain, who let her take him down to the ground. Steve waited until Darcy was crowing in victory before attacking the girl's middle, electing shrieks of laughter from her. Natasha had never seen such joy on her friend's face, save when he was looking at Bucky, his soulmate, when he thought no one else was looking. "You ready to meet her?"

"Is it okay if I say no?" Natasha couldn't wait to have their third join them and complete their home, but there was a deep well of apprehension that bubbled in her gut, telling her that she and Clint didn't deserve to have this girl, that her past was too red for this innocent person to ever want her. "I think I'll just watch for a while longer."

"Darcy's gonna love you, Nat," he brushed a kiss against his partner's temple. "Just wait." He dropped down from their perch and strode into the kitchen like he hadn't just jumped from the second floor balcony.

"Clint," Darcy giggled from where she was being held down on the floor by Bucky, so Steve could continue his tickle assault. "Don't just stand there, help me." She shrieked with laughter as the Captain renewed his assault. "Dude, Steve if you don't stop I'm going to pee," she said between giggles.

"You know the rules, baby girl," Steve grinned, sitting back on his heels where he was straddling her legs. "You find your soul mate, you call."

"Oh, come one," she tried to pull her hands out of Bucky's vice like grip, only to give up almost immediately. "You were on mission. Rules state that there is to be no civilian communications, except in life or death circumstances."

"It's an unwritten acceptation," Bucky grumbled, looking upside down at his little sister, keeping his weight off of where he had her wrists together.

"I call bullshit, Bucky Barnes," Darcy bucked under Steve, trying to dislodge him. "Off now," she gave the soldiers her best puppy dog eyes. "I promise I'll tell you right away when I meet my other soulmate."

"Promise, doll?" Steve asked, holding out his pinky. She laughed at how ridiculous he looked. "Pinky promise?"

"Big words, soldier boy," she pulled her arms from Bucky's grip and linked her pinky to the Captain's. "Pinky promise, now get up. Clint you weren't much help."

Clint watched from his perch on the back of the couch. "Sorry, darling," he smiled brilliantly down at his soul mate. "You looked like you had things handled all on your own."

She shrugged as she accepted Bucky's hand up. "I am a self-rescuing princess," Darcy pushed Clint off the back of the couch, grabbing his coffee cup before he went down. "But it's polite to help a damsel in distress, regardless."

Clint let Steve relieve Darcy of the hot beverage before he reached up and pulled her down on top of himself, rolling her under him. "How can I ever repay you, darling," he whispered in her ear, caging her under his body.

"I don't know," she pouted, batting her eyelashes up at him. "You left me at the mercy of the fearsome Winter Soldier and his dastardly cohort, Captain America," she wiggled a little and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It was quite an egregious crime."

"Then I will have to be punished," he played along. "I am ready to receive my sentence."

"Hold that thought, cowboy," Darcy smiled softly and pulled him down against her. "I didn't get a proper good morning kiss, either."

"That I can easily rectify," Clint leaned in and captured her lips with his. They'd only known each other three days and already he felt more complete, if only he could coax his Widow down to join them.

Natasha watched as Darcy and Clint shared easy touches and sweet kisses. She waited for the hot flair of jealousy she always experienced when she and her mate were out on an assignment that required him to touch another woman, but in its place was a deep longing to join them, to let that girl wrap her up in her arms and kiss her the way Darcy was kissing Clint.

"She can't wait to meet you," Bucky dropped down next to Natasha. "Darcy told me about her marks after she saw mine. She was so excited to find the people whose words she carried. She came up with hundreds of scenarios. I'm sure they were nothing like reality, but she wants to have you down there, she wants to be a part of what you and Clint have, and have you share in what she and Clint are growing."

"Did you know?" the Widow asked, watching as Clint dropped his arm over Darcy as they sat on the couch together. The younger girl flipped through the channels until she found something she liked, sipping on Clint's coffee. The archer just watched her with a small smile on his face.

"Not for sure," Bucky shrugged. "It'd been so long since you and I were together, though it might be wishful thinking."

"Why would you want that innocent girl to be settled with me as a soul mate, Yasha?" she looked down at her hands like she could actually see the carnage they had wrought.

"Because you deserve to be loved, Natalia," Bucky told her, dropping an arm over her shoulder and giving her a friendly squeeze before releasing her again.

"Clint loves me," Natasha countered.

"And now, so will Darcy," he gave her a small smile and leaned his arms against the railing. "You just have to let her."

"I don't deserve it," she shook her head.

"The universe disagrees, vdova," Bucky stood and placed a hand on his old student's shoulder. "You've got one of the best people I've ever had the privilege of knowing as a soul mate. You take care of her, or I just may have to forget how much I love you."

Natasha waited until Darcy was alone in the kitchen, adding a giant bag of chocolate chips to an equally large batch of cookie batter. The girl was so focused on her task; she didn't even notice the spy slipping behind her, even though Nat wasn't trying. "He certainly wasn't lying," Natasha said quietly, watching the girl startle a bit spilling some of the chips on the counter.

"Lying about what?" Darcy turned, feeling the words on her right hip flair to life.

"You don't worry about it," the Widow said, watching her scoop up the fallen chocolate and add it to the dough. Darcy gave her a quizzical look. "The blood we've shed, the lived we've lived. You treat Bucky like anyone else, Clint too."

"Not like anyone else," the younger woman corrected. "I love Bucky, and I'm learning to love Clint. And I mostly listened to Steve when the three of us started spending time together," she started the mixer and crawled up onto one of the kitchen stools. "I paid attention to Bucky's triggers at the beginning. We've moved past that, though. I trust him and he trusts me."

"But," Natasha searched for what she wanted to say, perching herself on the stool next to her new soul mate. "You're not scared."

"Nope," Darcy reached out to take Nat's hand, slowly as the other woman looked leery. "Your past doesn't define you, I've never believed that. I've read the file on the Winter Soldier, Steve made me when it was clear we were getting close. But that man I read about, that's not my Bucky, my brother wasn't in control when he did all those things. He maybe powerful and capable of horrible things, but under all that, he's a good, kind man, who loves me."

"I'm not good like that," Natasha looked away, starting to pull her hand back, Darcy just held tighter.

"Whoever told you that, lied to you," the girl told her, absolutely seriously.

"I told me."

"Bullshit," Darcy pulled them both off the stools and grabbed a couple of spoons. "Batter's ready." She smacked a spoon into Natasha's open palm. "You get to help me make cookies."

"I'm not much of a baker," Natasha protested, looking down at the spoon.

"No baking required, babe," her mate laughed. "Just put the batter on the cookie sheet. Ever make chocolate chip cookies before?"

"Can't say I have," the Widow dipped her spoon in the sticky dough, watching it coat the metal then cling as she pulled the spoon back. "I don't know if this is a great idea." Darcy showed the woman how to drop the dough onto the ready sheets, her arms around Natasha's waist, carefully taking her hands and pushing the tacky cookie mix off the spoon. Nat finally began to relax back into Darcy's arms, earning her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm not going to run away," Darcy told her after they'd dropped the last of the dough onto the cookie sheets. She turned Nat to look at her and tucked a loose strand of red hair behind the Widow's ear. "I'm yours, long as you want me. Long as you and Clint can stand it."

Natasha ducked down and captured the girl's lips with her own. "I'd like that."

Darcy watched as Clint and Natasha clambered around their kitchen, checking and rechecking the cookbook as they assembled ingredients for their annual Soulmate Day Chocolate Chip Cookies. "You know, I can help you," Darcy called from her place on the couch, her feet up in Bucky's lap, while the soldier leaned against Steve.

"Nope," Clint told her waving a wooden spoon in her direction, leaving absolutely no room for argument. "You are in no condition to be helping us do anything."

Darcy rolled her eyes and looked down at her swollen belly. "I'm pregnant, not broken."

"You are eight and a half months pregnant with twins, sweetheart," Natasha dumped the giant sized bag of chocolate chips in the mixer, just like she'd seen Darcy do countless times over the past few years.

"Yeah, darling," Clint swung out of the kitchen to kiss his soul mate gently and lay his hands on her stomach to try and catch their babies moving. "You jiggle around too much; those puppies are bound to pop right out." Darcy tolled her eyes again.

"I don't think it works that way, Clint," Bucky used his metal thumb to rub into the swollen instep of one of Darcy's feet.

"No," Darcy lay back, putting her hands over Clint's. "Bruce said the little ones haven't even turned yet, and no amount of jiggling will make them fall out. We did plenty of jiggling last night, you didn't seem worried then."

"Shut up."

"Just let us take care of you, malenkiy lyubvi," Natasha dropped down on her opposite side. "It's our turn."

Darcy just nodded and leaned hear head on Natasha's shoulder. "I love you."

"Love you too, sweetheart," the Widow kissed the crown of her soul mate's head, and linked fingers Clint's where they still lay against Darcy's belly. Life couldn't be better. The oven beeped, letting them know it was ready for the cookies that Natasha had expertly dropped onto the cookie sheets.

"I'll get it," Bucky pulled away from Steve and put the cookies into the oven as Lucky watched from his doggie bed. If Bucky dropped a bit of sugar cookie dough, his personal favorite, to the dog, he'd never tell.

 **Notes:**

vdova - widow  
malenkiy lyubvi - little love

Thank you for all the love that you've given me on this story.

Feedback is welcome, plot bunny food is encouraged.


End file.
